New Delhi. Pakistan's suffering is not ending. The debt burden of the country, which has been struggling with the economic crisis for a long time, is increasing, while the biggest crisis has arisen in the case of LPG. Due to the supply stoppage from the Iranian border, the prices of LPG in Pakistan have skyrocketed and this has had a negative impact on the rickshaw pullers of the country, who are forced to cut down on their meals. The situation is especially bad in Lahore, where most rickshaws run on LPG.
Iran connection to gas crisis in Pakistan
This new LPG crisis in Pakistan has a direct connection with Iran. Actually, the closure of Iran border is now proving very costly for the Shahbaz Sharif government of Pakistan. In fact, due to closure of the border, trucks full of goods including LPG tankers coming from Iran to Pakistan were left stranded and due to shortage of gas, LPG Cylinder Price in the country is increasing at the speed of rocket. Pakistan LPG Association says that earlier about 7,000 metric tons of LPG used to come to Pakistan daily from Iran and its import is banned.
12Kg LPG Cylinder Rs 7000
Pakistani traders say that LPG prices have been continuously increasing since October 17, because two border crossings of Iran were closed, due to which LPG import was stopped. This is the latest and biggest energy shock since the US-Iran war started in February. Pakistani traders said that within a few days of the closure of the border, the price of a 12 kg cylinder has increased by 56% to 7,000 Pakistani rupees. LPG is available in the open market at around Rs 583 per kg.
Rickshaw pullers forced to reduce food intake
According to Reuters report, Rashid Ali, who has been driving a three-wheeler motorized rickshaw in Lahore, East Pakistan for the last 13 years, while describing the problems arising due to the LPG crisis, says that his day starts at 6 in the morning and sometimes does not end till midnight, but for a long time he used to earn 6.50 dollars (about 1800 Pakistani rupees) every day, which was enough for the basic needs of his family. But now due to increase in LPG prices they are not able to earn even half of it. Ali, 33, is one of thousands of Pakistani rickshaw drivers who run their vehicles on LPG, which is used for cooking.
Ali says that now he gets $3 every day, so his family has reduced the food. He said that it is not possible to survive due to LPG being expensive. He said that their problems also include that even after gas becomes expensive, passengers do not want to pay more fare. According to Ali, for a trip which should have cost Rs 200 or Rs 250, they are paying only Rs 80, 100 or maximum Rs 150.
'Fuel for the poor' hit, passengers worried
Awami Rickshaw Union Chairman Majeed Gauri calls LPG the 'fuel of the poor'. He says there are 43,000 auto-rickshaws in the union and about 70% of these and about 8,000 are kingki (three-wheelers), which run on LPG. While the LPG price bomb has exploded on rickshaw pullers, passengers are also facing problems. Reuters report quoted Mohammad Ramzan, a local passenger, as saying that when a driver asked for Rs 500 for a ride in the city, he offered to pay half the amount, after which the driver flatly refused to go.
Many crises on Pakistan simultaneously
Pakistan LPG Crisis is not the only problem in the country, rather one crisis after another is taking away Pakistan's oil. While the inflation rate in Pakistan jumped to 9.6% in the month of October, the Central Bank of Pakistan increased the interest rates to 12% last week citing energy and wheat prices. The prices of petrol and high speed diesel have already increased by 40% due to the US-Iran war.